Italy choosing new PM

Rutelli and Berlusconi have fought a bitter campaign

ROME, Italy -- Italians are going to the polls to decide who will lead the country's 59th government since World War II.

The are choosing between conservative media baron Silvio Berlusconi or former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli, the head of the centre-left coalition that has governed for five years.

Voting began early on Sunday morning and ends later in the day. Projections on first returns are expected on Monday morning.

Turnout is traditionally well over 80 percent, with 49.5 million people eligible to vote. The Interior Ministry said nearly a fifth of voters had gone to the polls by noon.

VIDEO One analyst calls Italy's current election campaign 'undoubtedly the dirtiest since 1948.' CNN's Alessio Vinci reports Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    AUDIO CNN's Alessio Vinci: A bitterly contested campaign 508K/47 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    BIG PICTURE Italian election has wider European repercussions    ELECTION WATCH Italian parliamentary elections    COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: Italy Provided by CountryWatch.com

Rutelli waited in line for more than an hour to vote, but he said this was a good sign. A big turnout favours his centre-left alliance, he explained.

According to analysts, millions of undecided Italians are waiting until the last minute to make up their minds. Rutelli urged them to stick with the centre-left.

Federica Mollela, a Rome housewife, was still unsure which way to vote as she waited in a polling booth queue in central Rome. "Rutelli is better looking," she told the AP news agency. "And Berlusconi is too rich, always thinking of himself. I think I'll vote for Rutelli."

Berlusconi supporter Luca di Santo expressed fears that too many undecided voters would actually vote for Rutelli.

The last polls, in late April, showed that Rutelli, 46, had chipped away at Berlusconi's wide lead but that the 64-year-old billionaire businessman was still ahead.

Rutelli is promising tax breaks, job development and anti-crime measures.

He told CNN he was confident of victory. "I will win the elections. I will (create an) Italy, beloved all over the world for its beauty, history, art, but also for its technological, industrial capability. Italy will be an important partner and not a problem for Europe and the world.

"We are in a very close, tight race and we are going to win at the last lap." Berlusconi's closing campaign TV appearance on one of his networks showed a blowup of an electoral "contract" he said he was signing with Italians.

In the "contract," he also pledged to reduce taxes, crime and unemployment, and to raise pensions and increase public works projects.

Rutelli spent Friday -- the last day of campaigning -- attacking Berlusconi's political allies, including Umberto Bossi, whose anti-immigrant stand has earned him comparisons to Austria's far-right leader Joerg Haider.

Bossi's Northern League has advocated secession for Italy's affluent north.

It was Bossi's betrayal in 1994 that brought down Berlusconi's coalition when the magnate had been premier for barely eight months.

"An Italy in the hands of Bossi would be an Italy that wouldn't be accepted in Europe," Rutelli said.

The centre-left boasted during the campaign of having guided Italy, through restrained spending, into the charter club of countries using the new common currency, the euro.

While both men pledged tax relief for a country where the middle-class can pay more than 40 percent in income tax, Rutelli claimed that Berlusconi's vow to increase pension payments while drastically slashing taxes would jeopardise Italy's participation in the euro.

Berlusconi's rivals have also tried to make capital out of his troubles with prosecutors, who nearly a decade ago began pursuing him in corruption and bribery investigations.

He has depicted himself as a victim of prosecutors, who he says sympathise with the left.

If Berlusconi wins, he will control state television and effectively dominate nearly all of Italy's major television markets.

His business empire includes the nation's three main TV networks, and as head of government he could wield influence over the three networks of RAI state television.

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